MFP Strava Cycling Club

Join

Strava Calorie Calculations

Options
2»

Replies

  • Archon2
    Archon2 Posts: 462 Member
    Options
    it's partly the "elevated HR when you stop pedalling for a few seconds" that makes a pure power approach slightly low in it's overall reading... the human body isn't like a VW blue-motion car - the engine doesnt stop running when the wheels don't need driving - if your HR is elevated, all your systems (circulatory, energy exchange and so forth) are burning more calories than they would at complete rest...

    This is a good point to keep in mind. Even after my ride the other day, I kept the HRM on for a while just out of interest and the BPM rate took quite a while to drop down to rest levels, even though I relatively stationary and sipping water. I bet my quads were still burning more fuel than rest-state since they felt as if they were radiating more heat than normal for an hour or more. My watchband felt tight as well during this time. Just a lot more circulatory stuff continuing on well after the workout stopped.
  • veloman21
    veloman21 Posts: 418 Member
    Options
    Mark, thanks for all that information. Really interesting. I need to research all of the various studies to get a better understanding and I think I will experiment a bit with the different values of burn generated by Garmin/Strava with/without HRM or power meter or combination thereof. I'm also interested in looking at getting a new leaf profile done.
  • Archon2
    Archon2 Posts: 462 Member
    Options
    If anyone is interested, I've noticed that my Strava recorded rides usually reported about the same values whether I wear the HRM or not for calories on the same routes. I use the Garmin 500 and upload the data. I use the Garmin's data for elevation changes and set a known altitude at the start of my rides, so the altimeter is more accurate and hopefully better than the Strava calculated elevation changes.

    Did some searching, and the following thread seems to support that Strava just ignores HRM data for calorie calculations. And Garmin factors it in.
    https://strava.zendesk.com/entries/34307080-Different-Calorie-calculations-for-Garmin-vs-Strava-

    Anyway, I am going to keep using Strava's calculations for my MFP exercise input. The Strava values overall are usually lower than the MFP or Garmin Connect values I've seen for my own rides.

Categories